Prince William has been praised for his response to a question about menstrual health, despite some people considering the question to be a bit too personal and ‘too far’.
The Prince of Wales was appearing at the SXSW London event in Shoreditch, and was speaking to young recipients of The Diana Legacy Award which is named in honour of his late mother, Princess Diana.
Period equity and gender equality activist Vivi Lin was a recipient of one of the awards for her work with her organisation, With Red, which seeks to break down period stigma and help to educate people.
Lin asked Prince William whether he had discussed the topic of menstruation and periods with his three children, but especially with his daughter, Princess Charlotte, 11.
William replied honestly, admitting he would probably have to involve his wife, Princess Catherine.
According to the The Mirror, the future king reportedly replied: “I know I will have to one day, but I might need my wife to help me with that.”
Speaking to People about their exchange, Lin recalled: “I took the courage to ask him a really important question: I asked him, ‘Are you ready to talk to your daughter about periods?’ and how he is preparing.”
She continued: “He answered genuinely and smiled and said, ‘This is a topic I am not familiar with,’ and it was really lovely. But he said he knows it is going to be a conversation that he would need to have in the future. He said he will try to do so with the help of his wife.”
Lin added: “He acknowledged there is still menstrual stigma across the world and a lot of people don’t know about it. Coming from Prince William, that he knows he knows he needs to talk to his daughter — and he needs the help of his wife to talk to her about it — will be really important for a lot of dads with daughters because a lot of people are struggling and don’t know how to talk to their daughters about periods.”
He went on to say that women’s menstrual cycles need to be taken into account in competitive sport.
Online, listeners hit out at the question, with one saying on X: “That’s a bridge too far in my opinion. No one should be asking a father about his daughter’s period so publicly. That’s a family business.”
Another fumed: “Oh this is gross. She’s a little girl!”
Not everyone agreed though, and others praised him for his response: “I love that William talked about periods. A lot of men get so embarrassed. As someone who has stage 3 endometriosis, my dad found me collapsed on the bathroom floor when I was 13 & he was so supportive & explained things.”
“He’s raising awareness,” another pointed out. “It’s a natural process & something that needs more backing. Pads are extortionate. Some girls can’t afford them, it needs to be talked about.”
After the event, Lin told The Mirror: “We work with a lot of dads that have daughters, and I think it is just really important to ask him that question.
“He shared that he knows one day he will need to have that conversation with his daughter, but he will need the help of his wife and everything.”
She added: “He also mentioned that we need to acknowledge that women are just different, we have different biological cycles. So he’s obviously very into women’s sports, supporting women’s sports, and everything, and he shared about that.
“He shared about how the UK’s women’s sports, especially football, are changing how people are tailor-making different kinds of training schedules for the female players, so it will better help them to perform the way they want on the pitch.
“I think he definitely knows a lot of things about it. He shared that many English football teams are championing this campaign across the world because many people know something needs to be done, but few are actually doing it.
“In the UK, a lot of people are doing it and actually helping the female players.”
Lin praised William’s response and for being honest about not knowing everything and asking for help: “Hearing him say that he knows he needs to talk to his daughter, and that he also knows he needs help from his family and everyone, I think this will really encourage a lot of people who are ready or not ready yet to talk to their children about periods.
“The fact that he acknowledged and knows that menstrual stigma is still pretty much a thing in our current society, I think, will really help us to break that stigma and to have a different conversation with people.”
